


i will give you the very mountains itself

by Blepbean



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, First Kiss, Fluff, GIVE WU THE RIGHTS TO EARTHBEND FUCK YALL, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, not proofread or edited at all im srs we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:40:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26593051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blepbean/pseuds/Blepbean
Summary: Wu can Earthbend, but just barely. Able to pick up as much as tiny stones off the ground. But when his emotions overwhelms him it takes over and he surges with power that he can't control. Mako helps him with those moments, he grounds him like an anchor.He feels Mako’s hand on him, pulling him back to safety. It’s an anchor, grounding him back to this room. Everything halts to a stop. His hand is steady, not shaky anymore. When he looks up, he meets his eyes, amber, swirling fire, lava, tempered from the heat of the core itself.Mako’s eyes spark with realisation, “you’re an earthbender…” he kneels in front of him, reaching out to wipe the tears of his cheeks, leaving a trail of warm intimacy that makes Wu’s face flush, “why didn’t you tell me?”
Relationships: Mako/Prince Wu (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 169





	i will give you the very mountains itself

**Author's Note:**

> i dont know how earthbending works and if you @ me i will block u 
> 
> Kudos, comments and feedback is appreciated <3
> 
> [my tumblr](https://blepbean.tumblr.com/)

He lets the tiny pieces of pebbles dance above his palm, moving in a circular motion. If Wu focuses hard enough, he can shake the very earth itself and cause it to break apart just like the stories that he reads when he steals books from the library, ducking out of sight from uncaring adults who isolate him.

Wu lets his hair fall into soft curls, tucking his knees into his chest as he sits outside under the shade of a tree, hand still out as he concentrates to keep the pebbles moving. He didn’t tell anyone he’s an earthbender, it won’t matter. Earthbenders are strong and unmoving like the ancient rocks deep within the crevices of the earth, steady while they root themselves into place.

He’s nothing like that.

  
He’s just a mere child in a giant palace, rooms too big filling up with shiny toys that he doesn’t want. Wu often wastes his day away by walking around the halls, staring at the same painting, going outside and to look at the sky. Sometimes, he goes outside and he finds himself staring at a pretty boy before he’s told to keep moving. The palace is a big and lonely place that lingers with a forgotten child.

And that’s him.

He concentrates really hard, gritting his teeth to break the tiny pebbles that float around his hand to break open and to shatter. To feel the every surface, the roughness, the history in the shiny pebbles and to break it open. He tightens his eyebrows, if he just focuses really hard and is one of those tough earthbenders that he sees patrolling outside his room, he can break the pebble.

It doesn’t break. He sighs, pebbles dropping to the ground. Wu’s just a kid, he can’t do cool things like that. But he sees an earthbender at his age, who could throw a boulder with ease.

Why can’t he earthbend?

“Prince’s don’t need to earthbend,” he mumbles under his breath.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


His great aunt is dead.

It reaches him quickly and suddenly he’s being ushered into rooms, advisors and planners setting up his bodyguards and his coronation. Planning his whole future right in front of him while he sits at the tallest chair, eyes going back and forth with old people arguing. He feels like a child again, growing smaller and smaller, having to look up to see grownups.

It is overwhelming and his mind is brimming with thoughts too big and too mature for him. His eyes full of vast wilderness with trees reaching up to the clouds, with floating castles and flying whales all in books are now falling apart in front of him. It is terrifying, watching your life quickly change.

He closes his eyes.

He’s going to become a king.

King Wu.

The sudden realisation stresses him, bringing an overwhelming feeling of something twisting inside him. Wu feels the ground beneath him shake, fear taking over him while dust falls from the ceiling, the expensive chandelier shaking.

He’s going to be a king.

When he opens his eyes everyone is panicking, shaky and terrified whether there’s any assasination attempts. The temporary bodyguards surround Wu and when he stands up and looks at his hands, tracing the lines and how his hands are shaky he realises that he’s causing all of this. He feels the ground beneath him vibrating, shaking, feeling the giant cave under his feet that has been unexplored.

He feels every being and every human in a thousand mile radius.

This power is terrifying.

He stops the shaking with a simple breath and he lets out a shaky breath. Everything stops. Everyone calms down. He can no longer feel the vibration beneath his feet.

“Is everyone okay?” One of the guards asks.

“I”m fine,” he says, looking at his hand.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He’s improved his earthbending just a little bit. Now he can pick up things as heavy as a small rock. He grits his teeth, frustration brimming through him as he sends the rock smashing to his wall, leaving a dent. It falls to the ground with a thud. Wu’s tired and restless in the middle of the night in his room, empty and bare with no trinkets and things to fill up his bedroom, to stave away the loneliness.

Usually at this time he would be staring out into the sky, tracing the outline of the moon with his finger. He never had any friends growing up, in school or in uni he would be all alone in the library, head down, skimming through his textbooks as he made notes about analysing pointless literary stories during the 100 year war.

There’s one story that is his favourite. He’s spent restless nights trying to analyse the meaning, highlighting and pouring over his notes to try to understand the meaning. It tells the story of an earthbender who amidst the fire nation attack on his village, finds a fire bender near death. He doesn’t kill him, something comes up in his mind when the earthbender stares into those amber eyes that swirls with fire.

There’s a line that he remembers of by heart.

_ “I cannot kill him. Cause I am a foolish man that makes me think of futures that I cannot have.” _

The firebender responds with:

_ ‘Kill me.’ _

_ ‘I cannot kill you.’ _

_  
_ _ ‘Why not? I have ravaged your lands and torn apart families.’ _

_  
_ _ “I drag my fingers across his jawline, hardened by the officers in bootcamps, perfected by the very spirits themselves. This firebender is crafted from the very images of the gods themselves, and I look at him too long, I will begin to do stupid things. The thing is, I’ve seen him fight, I’ve seen him hesitate, pretending to fight and I can see the hesitation in his eyes. I should leave him, I should kill him and make him bleed out.” _

_ ‘What is your name, firebender?’ _

_ ‘Why should I tell you?’ _

_ ‘Because you look like you are crafted from the very gods themselves, tempered by the fires and bruteforce. Yet you hesitate and do not kill. I wonder why? I want to know your name, to let it roll off my tongue and to let it become such a familiar thing, second nature just like breathing.’ _

_ ‘Why are you saying these things?’ _

_ ‘You do not belong here. I’ve lost everything in these lands, I don’t have anything left for me here. You should come with me and leave everything behind.’ _

The last two lines says:

_ ‘At some point, earthbender, there will come a time where we’ll betray each other during our journey to a fake fantasy.’ _

_ ‘I have grown up reading fairy tales. I am used to fake worlds. When we sail and when everything breaks, I won’t curse you, I will curse myself for having lay my eyes on you.’ _

He still doesn’t understand the story and it forever stuck inside his head, it rings and it rings forever and ever. It is a thorn that is forever stuck on him, he can’t get it out of his head. He sighs, looking out of the window to the moon glinting in the dark sky. 

No more big thoughts. Tomorrow he’ll be introduced to his new bodyguard that’ll protect him until his coronation comes. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


His power surges from emotions. Otherwise his earthbending is as useful as a broken clock that’s right twice a day. He likes his bodyguard, Mako. He always has a poker face on, lips in a thin line. He’s void of emotion, yet his amber eyes, swirling of warmth holds something that’s similar to quiet stories, to secrets. Wu wants to dive deep into him, see what makes him tick, what secrets he holds, how he acts.

Mako is something more than a bodyguard. He notices it through his overprotectiveness and his scowling in public. But when it’s the two of them in his suit, they flow and fit into this weird small talk that doesn’t feel awkward. He likes the comforting silences they share, when Wu is thinking and Mako reads the daily paper with his eyebrows furrowing together.

A few weeks after, they come back to the suite and Wu is stressed and tired from having to deal with the questions. He’s usually good at these things, dealing with the public and media, juggling it all so effortlessly. But today everything collapses underneath him and he feels his hands shaking, going back to those times when he was just a mere child and all he was worried about was a sweet boy just across the street.

“Wu, are you okay?” HIs voice is comforting, but it’s not enough.

He sits at the couch, feeling its shirt underneath him while tears spring from his eyes. It stings. It hurts. He wants to pull the very earth apart just so he could be young again. He didn’t ask to be a king. He doesn’t want to be a king. The fear and the longing all swirls around him and he feels the ground beneath him shake, his hand trembling and his teeth gritting.

“Wu! There’s an earthquake!”

  
It’s not an earthquake. It’s him. 

Wu’s eyes aren't full of fairytales from forests anymore. His breathing is ragged and the ceiling above him threatens to fall into him and to break him apart, tear his limbs and leave his body, looming with ghosts of the past that he can’t seem to let go off. The tears, it feels hot, hotter than summers spend outside.

He feels Mako’s hand on him, pulling him back to safety. It’s an anchor, grounding him back to this room. Everything halts to a stop. His hand is steady, not shaky anymore. When he looks up, he meets his eyes, amber, swirling fire, lava, tempered from the heat of the core itself. 

Mako’s eyes spark with realisation, “you’re an earthbender…” he kneels in front of him, reaching out to wipe the tears of his cheeks, leaving a trail of warm intimacy that makes Wu’s face flush, “why didn’t you tell me?”   
  


“I’m not good at earthbending,” he uses his other hand to pick up a stone pot in the corner, gritting, “I can barely pick up a stone pot.”   
  


“ _ Oh _ .”

“Yeah.”

They realise how close they are. Mako moves away from him like he’s something fragile and forbidden, something he can’t have. He puts down the stone pot and lets out a shaky breath.

“When I can’t control my emotions, I get all like… that.”

A power that is so terrifying that it could kill someone. He has to do a better job at controlling his emotions, it’ll be the death of him. Is this what the earthbender felt when he was talking to the firebender, to try to control his emotions and to leave it all behind with the firebender. 

“I should train you,” Mako says, “with pro-bending.”   
  
“I can barely pick up a pro-bending disk I’ve tried, believe me.”   
  


“Doesn’t hurt to try again.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


There’s something thrilling and terrifying about being on top of a train being rescued from a kidnap. They jump to the next trailer, his screaming lost to the wind. He looks over to the edge and sees pure water, if they jump they’ll likely die. Korra holds onto him tightly, fear clinging to his lungs and making him take shallow and short breaths.

He’s terrified. Terrified that this is it, he’ll be shipped to Kuvira and they’ll torture him there, locked up in chains and cages. The thought terrifies him, his hands shaky from the fear. He feels the train shake. The fear, it shakes him to the very core and it’s beginning to fill up, threatening to overflow.

And it snaps when he sees Mako fall by the hands of the metal bender.

Everything snaps inside him and his veins thrum with such power. Korra deflects an incoming hook but he gets out of her grasp, his hands reaching out to the very mountains as the top crackles and splits, detaching with a deafening groan. It doesn’t feel heavy, it feels light and natural, like breathing.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!”

He sends the slats of massive stone the size of houses onto the metal bender at side, they all fall to the water grave beneath him. After a second everything comes back to him in shock, in waves. His hands stop shaking, arms and legs feel like paper. He collapses to the floor like a rag doll, the thrum of power leaving him in bursts.

He feels like his body is giving up on him.

“You’re an earthbender…” Korra mumbles. It’s the last thing he hears before he blacks out.

  
  
  
  
  
  


He is getting carried. He knows it. Wu feels the soft texture of Mako’s suit, holding him with such care. 

“Aw Mako you two look adorable,” Korra says. A dry breeze flies by them.

“Shut up,” he can hear the smile on his face.

He falls back to sleep.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The next time that he wakes up, he’s on a soft bed. He groans, sitting up while the sunlight blinds him. When he brings up a hand to block it out, he notices Mako sitting there, asleep. He’s probably been sitting there, waiting for him to wake up. Wu recollects what happened before it all went down. The kidnapping. The metalbenders. The earthbending--

He took off the top of a mountain and earthbended it.

“Holy shit,” he whispers.

Mako stumbles out of his sleep and he blinks his eyes open, stretching, “hey,” his hands reach over to find Wu’s arm, inspecting to see if he’s okay, “you okay?”

“I’m fine… I think.”

Silence. Mako lets his hand stay on Wu’s arm.

“I’ve heard what happened, you earth bended--

“An entire mountain then fell unconscious, I know,” he flashes him a soft smile.

“Are you hurt?” Mako lets go of his hand and everything in Wu wants him to come back, he goes over to the dresser for any pills and medications, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine Mako just… tired, I think.”

They meet eyes, and something blooms in his chest that flutters. It’s like a warm hug that enveloped him, the sunlight blinding everything in the room until it’s just the two of them. Mako, being so caring for him while Wu is on the bed, tired, just woken up. He reminds him of the pretty boy that he was staring at when Wu was a child.

Always acting tough, with either a scowl or his lips in a thin line. But sometimes there’s a softness to him as well.

“Thank you,” Mako mumbles, handing him a glass of water and when their skin touches, he feels that warmth, “for saving us.”   
  


“I’m pretty sure that Korra could’ve done what I did, and consistently.”

Mako pulls him arm back and Wu sees that flash of red on his cheek.

“Kuvira is planning an all out war on Republic city,” Mako says, sitting down on the chair, “you still up for training? I’m not an earthbender but--”   
  
“Yes!”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Wu can’t pick up heavy things. But they compromised, it’s something that he can use just in case when things turn south during the war. Tiny light stone spikes hidden all around his body that he can control, and target chi points to stop someone from bending. It isn’t perfect, and he’s still trying to learn where the points are.

But that’s enough.

Wu puts his back foot behind him and raises all of his tiny stone spikes, all reinforced. It glints in the light above them and his veins thrums with energy. He’ll probably lose the practise duel to Mako. His hands shakes, just a little bit. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Mako says, just wearing a tanktop and a helmet like Wu is. It reveals the muscles around his shoulder and his biceps, looking like he’s been carved from the mountain themselves.

“Not really,” Wu responds, voice shaky, “but never late than never.”

“Okay, you ready?”   
  
Wu nods.

Mako responds with a fiery kick that Wu barely rolls out of, his breath is shaky and his forehead is slick with sweat. He’s quick on his feet, trying to dodge the barrages of fires that he knows that Mako is holding back on. Wu get’s close, takes another step but is met with a swift kick that sends him tumbling to the ground, making the spikes drop to the ground.

He lets out a sigh, staring at the ceiling.

“Did I hurt you--”   
  


“I’m fine just…” Wu pauses for a moment, holding up a hand, “I’m fine just give me a few moments to take a breather.”

He slowly stands up, legs feeling like jelly. He picks up the fallen stone spikes from the ground, something clicks inside him, a plan. It might be really so stupid and it might backfire but it  _ might  _ work. 

“Do you think that this is cheating with me using this?” He asks.

“I don’t know I’m not an earthbender.”   
  
“Earthbending is all about like making big walls and being grounded and tough but I’m neither of those things,” Wu says, he rolls his shoulder and he looks at Mako, staring at him like he cares for him, that he’ll give him the very mountains, the stars and the sky just for him.

Is this what the earthbender was referring to the firebender? 

“Okay…” Wu breathes out, flashing a smile, “I think I’m ready.”

Mako answers by punching a raging fire at him. He ducks, and sends out all of his spikes to pin Mako to the ground as it cuts through Mako’s tanktop and sends him to the ground with a thud. 

He did it.   
  


“I did it!” He says, he gets on top of Mako to take off his helmet, “oh my god I did it, I’m an earthbender.”

Wu slowly takes off the spikes that takes too much effort than necessary. During the last couple of spikes, he catches Mako’s face all red, eyes downcast, something shifting behind those amber eyes.

He gets the last remaining ones out.

“Are you okay--”   
  
He gets cut by a swift kiss. His mind is filling up with static and he’s struggling to comprehend but he does register the way that Mako feels against his lips. Warm, soft and so tender. Mako loves and cares so tenderly, so softly with little touches and lingering hands. He feels Mako’s hands on his back and his on his hair.

Mako quickly pulls out, “Shit.”   
  


“What do you mean.”   
  
“I shouldn’t have done that I just… wanted to kiss you before everything goes to shit.”

Wu shakes his head, and he brings out his hand to trace his jawline. It’s hardened by the years spent out in the streets, fending for him and his brother. His eyes hold so much hurt, but at the same time so much  _ love _ . Mako is a man that loves too much, but hides it behind scowls and lets it out through simple stares.

“I’ll be fine,” Wu whispers, his hand roaming to Mako’s cheek, wanting to remember what it feels like, “I can protect myself with this.”   
  
“I’m sure you will.”

Wu laughs.

He thinks back to the story. And how he still doesn’t quite understand what it means between the earthbender and the firebender. Maybe it’s about how you’ll do anything for anyone, to willingly trust them, sail the rough seas with them even through there’s a spark, a chance of betrayal that’ll turn into yelling and tears.

“I have grown up reading fairy tales,” he whispers, “I am used to fake worlds. When we sail and when everything breaks, I won’t curse you, I will curse myself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

“I think it means that we trust each other and give so much of each other that when we betray or hurt each other, you won’t blame them, you’ll blame yourself.”   
  
“Then we’ll promise we won’t do that.”   
  
He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to keep that promise. But he nods anyways.


End file.
